6.7.09

The Space Pirates

The Space Pirates is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which originally aired in six weekly parts from March 8 to April 12, 1969.

Space beacons on the space lanes are being blown up and plundered for precious argonite by a gang of space pirates.

For an 'in depth' look at this story, go to;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/classic/episodeguide/spacepirates/

All episodes of this story, except Episode 2 — preserved as a 35mm film telerecording — are missing from the BBC archives. Pre-filmed inserts from Episode 1 also exist, as well as the audio soundtrack for all episodes.

In 1998, an episode of this story was discovered in the collection of an amateur video enthusiast from the south of England. The episode is the earliest known existing off-air domestic videotape recording of an episode of Doctor Who, but unfortunately was of the already-existing Episode Two.

Episode 2 was released on VHS in 1991 on Doctor Who - The Troughton Years. In November 2004, it was released on Region 2 DVD in the three-disc Lost in Time box set. The DVD also includes surviving pre-filmed inserts from Episode 1.

In February 2003, the audio soundtrack was released on CD with linking narration by Frazer Hines.

Heres a recon;

The DWM index can be found at;

http://www.lovingwho.com/DWMIndex/Television/PatrickTroughton.html

A novelisation of this serial, written by Terrance Dicks, was published by Target Books in March 1990 and was the last Troughton-era story to be published in the traditional Target format. It was also the last novelisation written by Dicks.

Thats it for the missing episodes. Coming soon the Doctor Who spin off series - Canon Fodder